Praise to a Powerful God

Carolyn

Exodus 15:2 “The LORD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will exalt Him.”

I am team teaching the 2nd and 3rd grade Sunday school classes at church this summer, and it was my week to give the lesson. We have been studying Exodus and how God delivered His people, the Israelites, from slavery in Egypt. Last week, we learned about the 10 plagues. Today, it was on the Israelites’ crossing the Red Sea on dry ground. We talked about what a powerful God we have, and how our response should be to praise Him as the people did in Exodus 15!

Just as God rescued His people from slavery in Egypt, so He rescues from the slavery of sin anyone who believes on the name of His Son, Jesus, who died for our sins and rose again! We can live a life of hope and praise Him for giving us salvation!

As I think about ways I’ve seen God work powerfully in my life, I remember 8 years ago this very day. While living in Virginia, but visiting family in Memphis, I was 5 months pregnant, or 23 weeks, 6 days to be exact. My pregnancy had not been easy from the start, but we were not aware of the seriousness of the situation. Things worsened in Memphis, and I was admitted to the hospital, with the doctors telling us they would do their best to save my life and the life of my baby.

For the next 23 days, the doctors did all they could to sustain the pregnancy. My daughter was born later that month, 3 months before her due date. She spent the next 3 months in the hospital in Memphis. Our short vacation turned into an almost 6 month stay!

As I remember those days, I remember God’s mighty power. We truly saw His hand at work in every detail. There were little miracles along the way and things that the doctors could not explain. The condition I had during my pregnancy was incompatible with life. The perinatologist made it very clear: “Your baby is a miracle. People don’t believe in miracles today, but she is a miracle.”

So I praise Him today, not just for taking us safely through that time, but for the lessons He taught me through the suffering. God’s design and ways are perfect, and He used that pain to lift my eyes to Him, to help me begin to long to know Him. These were just the seeds being planted that would grow into full bloom over the coming years. And as they did, He gave me great joy that I didn’t know was possible.

It Is Good to Sing Praises

Carolyn

Psalm 147:1 “Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.”

I am discovering there are benefits to blogging! With my thoughts turned each day to things that I might blog about, things that God has done, things that are praiseworthy, this blog is serving as a wonderful distraction from the daily cares that clamor for my attention. Instead of becoming so easily entangled with petty things that produce frustration, I am lifting my thoughts to praise Him, and He is changing my heart and thoughts to things higher and greater and more worthy. My thoughts move away from weighty burdens to joyful songs. Blogging is a great outlet to the demands and stresses of daily life!

I recognize my greatest attempts to praise Him are at best feeble efforts, and that this is a lofty goal to have a blog with a stated purpose to proclaim His praise! Yet He gives strength to the weak, and He has put a song in my mouth. He has given me joy, and I praise Him!

Creator God

Carolyn

Psalm 24:1-2 “The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein. For He has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the waters.”

My son broke his wrist last month, so with his arm in a cast for a month, we set out to find fun summer activities that did not involve water! These included a trip to the Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium in downtown Chicago. I marveled at the magnificence of God’s created world and its order — all the skies and all the seas display our Creator’s handiwork. And yet, in neither of these museums did we hear or see any mention of the Creator who made these wonders! Not even a passing reference to the possibility of a Creator.

I suppose leaving there and sharing this thought with my children is one reason it is upon my heart to open my mouth and give our Creator God the praise due His name, for His works are awesome.

As we traveled back from Memphis yesterday from a week with my extended family, I had to worship and rejoice as I heard the words to the beautiful song, My Offering, by Nichole Nordeman. Here are some of its lyrics:

(Chorus)Open up the heavens, open up the sky
All of Your creation wants to testify
I have a song, so let the earth sing along
‘Cause I just want to praise You

And the sun every morning cannot wait to shine
And the stars every evening are all standing by to light the sky
Give the rocks and the stones voices of their own
If we forget to sing praises to our King

(Chorus)Open up the heavens, open up the sky
All of Your creation wants to testify
I have a song, so let the earth sing along
‘Cause I just want to praise You.

Praise Proclaimer

Carolyn

I only recently became aware of the world of blogging through the blogs of a few friends. Though I found it intriguing, I wasn’t sure it was a world I wanted to enter. The last week or two, though, it has been more on my mind, and I’ve wrestled with reasons for and against blogging.

I couldn’t seem to escape though a nagging thought that I wanted to blog. Someone encouraged me to have a purpose for a blog. That came easy, too, with a verse that returned to my mind over and over last week. I didn’t know where it was in the Bible, but the words were fresh in my heart: “to proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

On Sunday, with my Bible open in my lap awaiting the sermon, I looked down to see those very words leap off the page! There they were in I Peter, and they represent my purpose for this blog: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” I Peter 2:9

I am reminded of the lyrics to “Blessed Assurance” by Fanny Crosby (1873): “This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.”

So my hope is to share the story God has given me while praising the One, Jesus, who called me out of darkness and into His marvelous light! He, our Creator and Redeemer, is worthy of all praise!